The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-02-02
Making Great Guns.

England'S Dig guns are made or DarS
coiled spirally and welded into solid
mass by the hammer, says q correspond
ent of the Boston Herald. These red-hot
furnaces contain straight bar; at word
the door is slightly raised, and with
huge nippers its head is seized by loops
made for the purpose. A steam winch
draws out the glowing mass and brings
it to q horizontal capstan fixed before
the door. A water hose is turned upon
the loop, and while it blackens under the
chill, stalwart fellow, welding heavy
sledge, fixes the loop on nut projecting
from the capstan wheel. Then the ma
chine revolves with resistless force,
curling the hot metal round and round on
its drum neatly and smoothly, and as
easily as girls would wind ribbon. So
the coil is formed, whether for the
breech piece or the body of the gun or
for its jacket. This again is cooled, and
after a while is refined for welding under
the hammer.
You ought to see this Woolwich ham,
mer. 1t weighs forty tons sheer weigh,
and when it drops it falls forty feet on
to a block that rests on spiles, massive
masonry, and enormous quantities of
iron. Between two great shafts this
hammer is suspended, a solid block,
which, driven from above by steam and
gathering impetus as it falls, strikes with
force of many hundred tons. A veteran
workmen has charge of this massive
hammer. He starts and drops it by a
touch of his thumb and finger. I saw
an open-face watch laid on the block;
then he dropped tho hammer, and he
stopped it just in time to break the crys-
tal-and nothing more. They call this
last operation of the furnace the ''great
heat" and about every monarch there is
in Europe has seen it, just as did yes
terday. While / am wondering what
they thought about the furnace to be
emptied is tlaring with impatlence.
Through the interstices Of its great door
blue, red and purple flames are leaping
out. A huge crane swings round q pair
of pincers, at the end of which dozen
Britons cluster The door rises little, the
white light blinds US, and, although
am at least twenty yards away, the
ucaC UuIlS Hy A@So onSo
Water is thrown into the awful gap, and
then the men perceive their prey. The
hugo arms part and firmly close, the door
rises to its fullest extent, clash of the
crane gear, o shout from the men, and
out it comes, easily and softly, mon
strous coil. The crane swings about and
places it upon end upon the anvil. Then
the hammer falls, shaking the solid floor
beneath US, crushing the red-hot mass
inches down at blow, welding its coils
together so that they can never part:
But the inside hollow has been knocked
out of shape by this process; so, when
the tube has been reduced to its proper
length, solid mandril is def ly slil ped
between the hammer and the iron. For
two or three blows the contracted coil at.
tempts resistance, but it gives way, and
the mandril slips to its base, as into but.
ter. Then the great pincers are used
again, and it drops the mass On its side,
where again it is battered and struck all
round. The Irregularities caused by all
this hammering are afterward removed
by the plane, and then the gun is made
by other machinery.